NEW Kids Picture Books: Day 4

Queen of the Diamond: The Lizzie Murphy Story 
by Emily Arnold McCully. February 2015.

From Amazon: "Lizzie Murphy was good at baseball. In fact, she was better than most of the boys. But she was born in 1900, and back then baseball was not a game for girls. Lizzie practiced with her brother anyway, and then she talked her way onto the local boys' team, first as a batboy, then as a player. Everyone was impressed by her hard catches and fast pitches. By the time she turned fifteen, she was playing for two different amateur boys' teams. When she turned eighteen, Lizzie did something else that women weren't supposed to do: she signed up with a professional baseball team, determined to earn her living playing the game."

My thoughts: I've followed baseball a bit over the years and have to admit I'd never heard of Lizzie Murphy. Maybe it's because she played in the early 1900s, but I still would have thought her name would come up like Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson as part of the history of the game. Oh well, maybe I'm just not paying attention. :)

Anyway, I thought this was a neat book as a sort of simple biography, a good stepping stone into finding out more about her. I read it to my kids, who weren't really interested in it, but they did  listen to the whole thing. I learned some things, but my kids haven't asked me to read it again yet. Maybe if we watch some more October baseball together they'll be interested. Oh wait, our Tigers aren't doing so well this year...

Recommended Age: 5-8 years

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